Forgiven Forever: An Intellectual Primer for Time Poor Future Christian Leaders
Rory provides a systematic breakdown of the circumstances, theology, and context of Jesus’ death and resurrection in an admirably short book.
Rory provides a systematic breakdown of the circumstances, theology, and context of Jesus’ death and resurrection in an admirably short book.
Some years ago at our church we got our trainees to read J. I. Packer’s classic essay “What did the Cross Achieve?” In it, the great British theologian sets out a careful, nuanced, and compelling case for the penal substitutionary nature of Christ’s work on the cross. I was excited for them to read it. Packer carefully defended a position they had no idea needed defending … like the existence of gravity. They were underwhelmed. They did not find any fault with the writing, or the exegesis, or the theology as such. Rather, the trainees were perplexed because, for them,...
In the first century, “crucifixion” was not a metaphor. No one said, “Oh, man, I got crucified at work today”.
Why did Jesus go to the Cross? If you are looking for an encouraging exercise this Good Friday, you might like to try to make a list of all the different reasons you can think of. If you can’t wait, here is ours: 1. To satisfy God’s justice By coming forward as our representative and substitute, and by enduring the penalty for our sins, Jesus not only made us right with God, he demonstrated God’s mercy and justice. God put [Jesus] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because...
At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’. When some of those standing near heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he’s calling Elijah.’ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ‘Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,’ he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from...